Every morning for two weeks, I’ve awakened at 3:21 a.m. out of a dead sleep. My throat is parched; I reach for my Yeti cup filled with ice water. The room is dark except for the tiny night light over by the closed bedroom door.

I look around the room at the dark shadows cast here and there. I listen. At times I’ve smelled smoke. I get up and look out the shutters, nose in the air when I do. It dissipates. I open the bedroom door and peer out to ensure the house isn’t on fire.

Back in bed, I lay looking at the ceiling. The small chihuahua lying between my husband and me is barking in his sleep. Is that what woke me up? I’m not convinced.

My dreams are disturbing as I fall back to sleep. It’s as if I have left my body, and I’m looking through a camera lens. An incubus, drooling profusely, is sitting on top of me.

I remember the art picture I studied in college. I wrote an essay on it. Incubus demons, more prevalent during the Middle Ages in Europe, are common in stories. They are a malevolent entity in the form of a male said to seduce women as they sleep. These women, victims of a supernatural rape, may not know or feel anything happening to them.

My subconscious mind draws me deeper into the dream.

My senses peaked. The putrid smell of this being makes me gag. The demon’s head jerked around as if looking for something. The drool in his mouth was shooting everywhere. He seemed familiar with my body. I realize he is the reason my sleep has been disturbed. Why had I not noticed this before?

I hear a low, sinister laugh. His back is humping up and down though I feel nothing. My body is paralyzed under him, and my eyes are closed. I see everything.

Though I can’t move, my mind becomes my only weapon. I call upon the white light of protection, unbeknownst to this horrendous demon.

“Three, two, one,” I say to myself.

My body is enveloped in light; the incubus begins to scream. A sound so hideous, it hurts my ears. I do not relent. It is then I realize the demon is on fire. Sparks sizzle off his body where he is straddling mine. The electrifying effects cause him to jump off the bed into a room corner.

I command the protection light to encompass the room. As it creeps along the walls and floors, there is nowhere for the incubus to hide. Desperate to escape, he takes one giant leap towards the window and disappears into the night.

As the white light subsides, paralysis leaves my body. I awaken to my little dog, licking my hand as if he knew what had happened to me.

Now, each night before I sleep, I ask the universe to surround me in its white light for protection. The demon has never reappeared. He knows better, and I sleep undisturbed.